Benjamin Netanyahu on the importance of DIVESTING FROM IRAN NOW:

“But for the regime in Teheran, the blow of divestment could prove fatal.
Fewer and fewer companies will enter Iran.  More and more will leave.    Investment dollars and the technology it buys will dry up.  The lifeline of the regime will be cut.  Teheran will face a stark choice: Change its polices and win back investment, or maintain its policies and risk economic collapse.  

I said last year that it was 1938.  But today, we have the lessons of the 1930s to guide us, and the power to choose a different course that will make all the difference. We must mobilize the power of the free world to confront the dangers in time.  We must, as the old saying goes, put our money where our mouth is.

If we divest from Iran, we will be able to say what our parents and grandparents could not: That we acted in time, that we prevented genocide, that we preserved peace.  In short, the message of my trip to the US was simple. Divest Iran.  Divest Sudan. Invest in Peace.”

We, the people, have the POWER to make a difference.  If we give up that power, our enemies will take it because we will have given it to them.  Right now we can still make a difference with a fax or phone.  Let’s do that simple act while it is still that simple.

Doris Wise Montrose, President
Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Los Angeles
www.cjhsla.org
doris@cjhsla.org

Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Los Angeles (CJHSLA) urges organizations and individuals to support AB 221, introduced by Assemblyman Joel Anderson to end California taxpayers’ investment in Iran.  This non-partisan legislation is inspired by the successful anti-apartheid divestiture bill that restricted investment in South Africa and follows on the "heels of California's divestment last year from the Sudan."

Large public pension funds, involving hundreds of billions of dollars, are exerting tremendous pressure in the movement to divest from foreign, publicly traded companies that have economic dealings with U.S. State Department designated terrorist-sponsoring states. In light of the current world situation, such efforts are not only extremely logical but morally brilliant and peaceful, while also serving to protect the retirement savings of millions of American employees and pensioners.

Below is a sample letter that you may use to voice your support of AB 221.  Please FAX a copy of your letter to Assemblyman Joel Anderson (916) 319-2177.  You can also address versions of this letter to your State Senators and Assembly Members.

For further information, please contact:
Doris Wise Montrose
doris@cjhsla.org
www.cjhsla.org  

Assemblyman Joel Anderson
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA  94249-0077
FAX:  (916) 319-2177

Assembly Bill 221 – Investment Protection--Strong Support

Dear Assemblyman Anderson:

We [organization Name] strongly support AB 221 to end California taxpayers’ investment in Iran.

Following Assemblyman Paul Koretz’s 2006 Assembly Bill 2941, which divested CalPERS and CalSTRS of investments in Sudan, Assemblyman Joel Anderson is currently spearheading Assembly Bill 221—Investment Protection that requires CalPERS and CalSTRS to sell or transfer any investments in a company with business operations in Iran.

This most effective movement to divest public pension funds from foreign publicly traded companies that have business ties of any kind to U.S. State Department-designated terrorist-sponsoring states has grown, proposed in more than half-a-dozen statehouses across our nation.

Bolstering the economics and infrastructure of terrorist states, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, holds national security risks.

To that end, AB 221 would protect state investments and ensure that millions of Californians need not fear that their investment portfolio is at risk because it is associated with funding business in a terrorist regime.

As defined by the federal government, the risk to corporate share value and reputation stems from a company’s business activities in or with countries that sponsor terrorism. By divesting from global security risk, AB 221 will simply but substantially strengthen and secure California’s major public retirement systems.

Doing business in Iran is dangerous and volatile. AB 221 removes the risk posed and adds stability to California’s public retirement fund investments and will help CalPERS and CalSTRS fulfill their commitment to shield millions of Californians’ retirement security.

We strongly support this important and urgent bill.

Sincerely,

Please FAX a copy of your letter to Assemblyman Joel Anderson (916) 319-2177.  You can also address versions of this letter to your State Senators and Assembly Members